A Christmas Classic: Traditional Scottish Dundee Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is Dundee cake the same as Christmas cake? ›

A Dundee cake makes a lighter take on the traditional Christmas cake. It's a less rich, crumblier alternative to the hefty traditional Christmas cake.

A classic Dundee cake is a round fruitcake. I prefer it to its distant American cousin, the Christmas fruitcake, in part because it's lighter and butterier. It's typically made with moist raisins and orange peel and topped by pretty concentric circles of whole blanched almonds.

A Scottish speciality is the traditional Christmas cake, the "Whisky Dundee". As the name implies, the cake originated in Dundee, and is made with Scotch whisky. It is a light and crumbly cake, and light on fruit and candied peel; only currants, raisins, sultanas and cherries.

Dundee cake does not keep like a rich fruitcake. It will keep for a week or so wrapped and stored in an airtight tin, but if you want to keep it longer, I would freeze it, preferably on the day that it's baked.

Dundee cake is studded with juicy sultanas and flavoured with Seville orange, it is a deep cake which is traditionally round in shape but can be made in other shapes to accommodate customer requirements.

Cakes can crack and/or dome (way beyond a gentle curve on top) when the outer edge crust sets too quickly and gets done before the middle, forcing the center to heave up as it rises. Possible culprits are: The oven temperature was too high.

Fondly known as the Queen of Cakes, Dundee the cake is a Christmas cake that radiates comfort and warmth originating in the coastal Scottish city of Dundee. It was said to have been made by a particular Scottish local bakery by repurposing leftover dried fruits from Christmas cakes.

Dundee Cake is one of the most famous and widespread traditional Scottish cakes. Usually, it is being made using almonds, currants, sultanas and sometimes cherries, alongside a wide range of...

kage, a cake (O.N. has it in kokukorn (Torp)).]

Dundee cake often incorporates ingredients like butter, sugar, lemon zest, orange zest, marmalade, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, dried fruit, glacé cherries, candied citrus peel, currants, sultanas, ground almonds, and finally blanched almonds as a decorative finish.

Where is Dundee cake from? ›

Dundee cake is one of the most famous cakes in Scottish baking traditions. It was first commercially developed in Dundee on the Scottish east coast in the early 1800s, but the cake has roots more than 350 years ago.

A rich fruit cake, encased in marzipan and royal icing, is a classic choice for a Scottish wedding. This hearty cake, often made months in advance, is a testament to the lasting nature of the couple's commitment.

The Christmas Cake originally was called the Twelfth Cake and would have more traditionally been served at parties on the Twelfth Night ending the 12 days of Christmas on the 5th of January. And these cakes started as enriched fruit cakes, something more akin to an Italian Panettone.

The most well-known is perhaps the Panettone. Panettone, which hails from Milan, Italy, is typically served around Christmas time (noticing a pattern there?). They are traditionally filled with dried and candied fruits and have a distinctive light, airy texture. But that's not Italy's only contribution to fruitcake.

Even though this cake is sometimes referred to as a Christmas “pudding”, Christmas cake is a type of cake. More specifically, it is a type of fruitcake covered with thick layers of icing with candied or dried fruits, nuts, and spices, and usually contains warming spirits like brandy, wine, rum, or cognac.

A Christmas cake is a heavy cake containing much dried fruit and usually having a covering of icing. It is made to be eaten at Christmas. It can also be called a fruitcake.